Back of the Barn

"Take it out back," said Mother. "Way out back of the barn. No, farther--farther."

While plain civilians watched with fascinated concern, Army and Navy men got ready to explode the fourth atomic bomb. If the thing acted in the pattern of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they had picked a good, safe spot--Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, over 4,000 mi. from the U.S. shore. Wildlife lovers were disturbed. But Hanson Baldwin pointed out in the New York Times: "Great numbers of fish and birds will be killed . . . but they will die that man may live."

The military men planned to explode one bomb in the air over a fleet of 97 ships moored in the atoll; then to detonate a second bomb placed on a float, to see what kind of hell the thing would raise at water level.

Among the 97 ships picked for the experiment were four antiquated battleships (Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, Arkansas); the tired old carrier Saratoga] the elderly Japanese battleship Nagato, the German heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen.

The operation would be known as "Crossroads." In the task force would be a fleet of 50 ships, with 20,000 sailors, Army airmen, scientists, Congressmen and 150 newsmen. In early May, under Vice Admiral William H. P. Blandy, the force would deploy expectantly around Bikini.

Mother said: "You know how boys are. They just want to hear the bang. I hope they don't burn the barn down"

The reasons for this mighty experiment confused some people. Scientist W. A. Higinbotham, chairman of the Federation of Atomic Scientists, said he did not "see much object" in the test. But "Spike" Blandy thought his mission was crystal clear: to test a new weapon and to lay the foundation for defense" against it. He explained:

"The ultimate results of the test so far as the Navy is concerned will be their translation into terms of U.S. sea power. Secondary purposes are to afford training for Army Air Forces personnel in attack with atomic bombs against ships. . . ."

But did the U.S. expect, then, to attack someone's ships with atomic bombs? On the contrary, the U.S. State Department had sponsored the Atomic Commission which, according to Objective No. 3, was striving "for the elimination from national armaments of atomic weapons."

Senator Brien McMahon, in fact, was all for taking foreign observers along--a gesture of good will. State Secretary Byrnes approved and so did the House Naval Affairs Committee--so long as no details were disclosed. The Atomic Commission would consist of representatives of Russia, Great Britain, France, China, Australia, Poland, Mexico, Brazil, The Netherlands,

Egypt and Canada. "Let them see the terror we have made," said spread-eagle Major George Fielding Eliot in the New York Herald Tribune. "Let the atomic fires which we shall loose above Bikini set alight the spiritual fires of a common and deathless purpose which shall burn forever upon the altars of a world at peace."

Mother threw her apron over her head, stuck her fingers in her ears and waited for the thing to go off.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.